Wide band gap (WBG) semiconductor devices are expensive and time consuming to manufacture. For example, gallium nitride (GaN) materials are formed by a heteropitaxial (epi) growth process that involves depositing GaN on a semiconductor carrier substrate having a different lattice structure (or lattice constant) than the deposited GaN. The lattice mismatch between the GaN and the carrier substrate may create defects, dislocations, and strains that may negatively impact device yields and performance. In addition, the GaN layers and carrier substrate may have different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE). Thermal processing (e.g. GaN epitaxial growth) can crack or delaminate the GaN or bow, and in some cases break, the carrier substrate. The different CTEs may restrict substrate wafer size limiting scale and preventing reduction of the overall manufacturing cost of WBG devices and solutions.